Ecology, Energy, Economy

A combination of growing populations and food, energy and water shortages will reach crisis point by 2030, the government’s chief scientific advisor will say later today.

“It’s a perfect storm,” Prof John Beddington will tell the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.

“There’s not going to be a complete collapse, but things will start getting really worrying if we don’t tackle these problems.”

The comments come as development campaigners join forces with environmentalists at a protest in Coventry today.

Prof Beddington predicts demand for food and energy will shoot up 50 per cent by 2030, while demand for fresh water will go up by 30 per cent.

The world population will have hit 8.3 billion.

Climate change would then act to destabilise the situation.

“My main concern is what will happen internationally, there will be food and water shortages,” he will say.

“We’re relatively fortunate in the UK; there may not be shortages here, but we can expect prices of food and energy to rise.”

Prof Beddington will warn that the recession should not drive the issue off the agenda, just because prices were currently dropping.

“We can’t afford to be complacent. Just because the high prices have dropped doesn’t mean we can relax,” he will say.

Liberal Democrat energy and climate change spokesman Simon Hughes said: “It is a sad indictment of the government that one of the world’s top climate scientists has to protest to try to get the message across.

“Despite the rhetoric, ministers simply don’t get the scale of the climate crisis and the need for radical new thinking.”

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